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Interview

September 9, 2017

Favre: "We played as a team"

In his press conference, the Aiglons coach Lucien Favre delighted in the team performance his side put in during their 4-0 victory over Monaco.

Lucien, a great evening for the Gym!
It was important to put in a good performance. And it secured 3 points for us, and an improved goal difference with 4 goals. We needed to perform well, the result, you can never be sure. Sometimes you don’t win when you play well. This evening, we were effective. We played well, as a team. We were very solid defensively.

This match is almost a carbon copy of last year’s derby!
The result yes. I can’t really remember the details of the game. We scored through Baysse from a dead ball, a counter with Belhanda for Mario after that. I can’t remember the details, I know that we played in a 3-4-3 with two number 10s. This evening, there were lots of new players in the team compared to last year, 6 or 7.

What has changed from your previous games?
We played as a team. Everybody tracked back. If a player is out of his zone, it puts the team’s balance in danger. Today, everybody defended well, closed down the angles. We needed to stop them from playing their game. When they come with players who move well between the lines, they are very dangerous. This evening, they couldn’t really do that. That’s what allowed us to be more calm defensively. It’s the first game this season in which we haven’t conceded a goal.

You played a lot on the counter. Was this something you planned?
Getting the ball back is important. If it is then possible to play quickly going forward, you need to do so, if not you need to move the ball around. We need to find the right balance between the two. Then you need to be able to counter.

You played Balotelli alongside Plea, something you rarely tried last season…
You can’t forget St Maximin on the right too. It wasn’t really easy for him on the right of a 4-4-2, where you need to track back a lot. But he did it well. Up-front, Mario and Plea were the first screens to frustrate the opponent. Everybody defended well.

This partnership didn’t always work last season, what changed this evening?
Be careful, this is only one match. It’s certain that it was against Monaco, we won 4-0, that does a lot of good ahead of the intense weeks ahead, with the Europa League and the league. It gives us confidence, that’s the main thing. This partnership depends on what we have around them. If they have the support of others, it can work. And on the other hand, the team needs them to support them defensively. You can’t have one without the other.